1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to item carrying devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to handheld item carrying devices that are capable of holding multiple items. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to lightweight, but durably constructed, handheld item carrying devices that are capable of securely holding multiple items, such as shopping bags, for comfortable and easy transport by an individual.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the hustle and bustle of our busy lifestyles, we frequently need to transport multiple heavy items from one location to another. For example, consider a typical trip to the supermarket or other consumer goods store in which a shopper fills up a cart with many products. Once those products are paid for and placed into several bags, the shopper is left with the unpleasant task of having to transport the bags home. Indeed, for those who love to shop, nothing spoils the shopping experience more than having to carry several heavy bags from the checkout line to the car, and then from the car to the home. For those who hate to shop, this bag transporting burden only worsens the shopping experience. Further, when bags must be carried by an individual for an extended period of time, such as when a person walks home from a supermarket or a shopping mall, the bags quickly become cumbersome to carry.
To make bag carrying easier, most bag manufacturers have built handles into the design of their bags. While these handles have made bag carrying easier, they have not necessarily made bag carrying easy. One of the primary complaints of those who engage in the common practice of carrying several heavy bags is that the handles of the bags exert great pressure on their hands. Sometimes this pressure is so substantial that the bags bruise, or even cut into, the skin. Those wishing to avoid sore hands therefore may be forced to carry no more than one or two bags per hand at a time. Carrying only a few bags at a time, however, can be an inconvenient practice, especially when doing so means having to make more trips. For drivers, this typically means making more trips between the car and the house. Worse, for walkers, this typically means having to make more trips to and from the store.
Bags can be difficult to transport even when they are not being carried by an individual, such as when they are being transported in a vehicle. When plastic bags are used, for example, the items that they contain often tend to be freed from the bags and jostled about a vehicle as they are being transported from market to home. In some cases, this leads to eggs being cracked, the top of a bleach bottle being broken and bleach being spilled, and to the occurrence of other similarly irritating, if not hazardous, events. In anticipation of these events, some drivers even elect to alter their driving habits to prevent them from occurring.
Attempts have been made to make bag carrying easier. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,581 to Carmo et al. describes a hand grip for carrying bags which contains a single hook for holding the bags. Other U.S. patents show devices similar to that of Carmo et al. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,114 to Fludd, U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,207 and D469,015 to Le Roux, D314,150 to Preciutti, D362,622 to Van Davelaar, D340,863 to Daigle and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0201236 to Adelson all describe a bag carrying device having a handle and one or more hooks upon which bags may be placed. All of these devices, however, are substantially limited in at least two ways. First, none of these devices has an effective means for keeping bags on their hook or hooks. Therefore, bags loaded on any of these devices may easily become freed from their hooks whenever the device is set down, such as when a shopper places the bags into a vehicle's trunk for transport. Such inadvertent unloading is problematic because a bag that is freed from its hook is more likely to release its items than is a bag that remains secured to its hook. Furthermore, a bag loaded onto a hook of any of these devices also is prone to being accidentally unloaded from the hook even while the user is carrying the device, such as when the user runs to catch a bus or gets one or more bags entangled around the end of a stairway railing.
Second, these devices are limited because each of their handles is made of a hard material and is of a relatively narrow design. Therefore, even when few, or even no, bags are loaded onto one of these devices, the hard, narrow handle makes the device uncomfortable to grip. Even worse, the device becomes increasingly more uncomfortable to grip as the weight that it holds is increased.
Some of these devices are further limited because they are incapable of carrying more than a few bags. This is true because some of the devices, namely those of Carmo et al., Le Roux, and Adelson, contain only one or two hooks.
Another attempt to make bag plastic bag carrying easier is evidenced by the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,634 to Finkleman. Finkleman's device is described as being a “hanger unit” having hooks that include clip elements. Like the devices described above, Finkleman's device also has substantial limitations.
One of the most substantial limitations of the Finkleman device is that it is specifically designed to prevent the bags that it holds from interfering with each other when they are being carried by the user. In other words, bags carried by the Finkleman device are meant to swing freely. A bag carrying device that allows its bags to swing freely is undesirable in many respects, however. Generally this is true because free swinging bags are more difficult to carry than are bags that are held stationary, or substantially stationary, with respect to the carrying device. This is also true because freely swinging bags are more likely to release their contents than are bags that do not substantially swing. Further, items in a freely swinging bag are more likely to collide inside the bag, and therefore are more likely to become damaged, than are those in a bag that does not swing. By requiring such free swinging, the Finkleman device therefore frustrates the very goal that the bags are meant to achieve, which is to safely and conveniently hold items.
In addition to being difficult to the problems that are caused by allowing its bags to swinging freely, the Finkleman device is further limited in that each of its hooks is designed to carry only one bag at a time. Therefore, the Finkleman device is limited to being used to carry only a few bags, which means that individuals having to carry several bags at once either would need to carry two of the Finkleman devices, one for each hand, to fully satisfy their bag carrying needs. This would be undesirable because it would not leave the user with a free hand for performing tasks that people are prone to do while carrying bags, such as opening a car door, reaching into a pocket for bus change, or making a call on a cell phone. In cases where two of the Finkleman devices would not be enough, prospective users would be forced to choose between making multiple trips and not using the device altogether.
Another limitation of the Finkleman device is that it is not optimally durable. That is, it is not one solid, integral unit, but instead is comprised of multiple thin pieces which come together to form the whole device. This thin, streamlined construction makes the device particularly susceptible to breakage and to unwanted flexing. When broken, the utility of the device is compromised, if not eliminated altogether.
Another limitation of the Finkleman carrying device is that it is not optimally designed to allow its user to add or remove bags from its clip elements while the device is being held by the user. This problem is attributed to a few design flaws. First, the device is relatively large as compared with the frame of an average-sized individual. Second, the need to accommodate several clip members and to space them such that bags hanging from them do not touch when being carried means that some of the clip members, and particularly the clip members positioned at both extreme ends of the device, are inconveniently too far in front of, or in back of, the individual during normal carrying. Third, the device, as mentioned before, is thin and flexible.
In combination, these design flaws effectively force an individual carrying bags with the Finkleman device, such as during normal use, to maneuver the device awkwardly in order to access the clip members, and particularly the clip members at the extreme ends of the device. Specifically, due to the device's relatively large size, the clip members are not easily reachable when the device is held at arm's length to the individual's side, as an individual would be expected to hold it during normal use. Further, to reach a clip member at one end of the device, the individual would need to swing that end from a position far removed from his person to a position closer to his person. Invariably, this repositioning would require having to grab the device at or near its end having the clip member of interest. Further, holding the device by this one end would mean that the other end would be left to dangle away from the individual. Since the device is thin and highly flexible, any such dangling would be particularly pronounced. Pronounced dangling of this end would be particularly undesirable where the dangling end holds a bag, namely because the weight of the bag would cause the end of the device having the clip member of interest, and the device itself, to pull away from the individual as he attempts to access that clip member. This weighted pulling, in conjunction with the increased flexibility of the device, would cause the end being gripped by the user to torque within the user's hand, which, in turn, would cause overall unsteadiness within the device. For this reason, the only practical way for a user of the Finkleman device to access certain clip members would be to first set the device down. However, where the device is being used in certain locales, such as on packed subway cars or while riding on an escalator, for example, it would not be practical, or perhaps even possible, to set the device down.
Yet another limitation of the Finkleman device is that like the devices described above, the grip of its handle is not optimally designed to provide the user with maximum comfort. The Finkleman device has a hard handle which includes several grooves. The hardness of the handle provides its user no cushion to protect the user's hands against the strain of carrying heavy items. Further, these grooves may be hazardous to some users. For example, grooves that are designed to accommodate the hands of an average sized adult may be likely to pinch the digits of small children or the frail, such as some elderly individuals.
The Finkleman device is also limited in that it is difficult to keep clean. Indeed, there are numerous crevices present on its entire surface. These crevices provide areas for dust, dirt, grease and grime to collect. Build-up of such materials is unsanitary, and therefore poses a health hazard, especially where the device is being used to carry bags containing food. This is particularly troublesome because due to the contours of the grooves, a quick wiping of the device with a cloth and a cleanser would be insufficient for removing such undesirable deposits of filth. For this reason, thorough cleaning of the Finkleman device would require extensive time and effort, and perhaps even special cleaning equipment. For the busy shopper, this would create an undue burden. Instead of taking the time and effort to clean the device, many therefore would elect to take the environmentally unfriendly path of throwing the device away in favor of a new one.
What is needed therefore is a bag carrying device that is durably constructed and capable of carrying several heavy bags. Further, what is needed is a bag carrying device that is capable of carrying several bags securely without risk of having the bags becoming accidentally freed from the device, that holds the bags together while they are being carried such that swinging of the bags is kept minimal, and that is easy to load and unload while it is being carried. Even further, what is needed is a bag carrying device that keeps the handles of each bag held together, thereby preventing the items contained in each bag from falling out both while being transported in a vehicle, such a car's trunk, or even set to rest on a stationary surface, such as on a bus stop bench. Further still, what is needed is a bag carrying device that is comfortable to grip and is easy to clean and maintain.